Making money with your podcast

You’re making your podcast, your audience is growing, and now it’s time to make it official: you’re a check-cashing podcaster who not only breaks even, but earns money for their time and creative work. It’s possible, and we know you can do it. Let’s go!

Before you start earning money, here are some ways to start wrapping your mind around podcast financing.

Podcast earnings come in a few forms, and break down into one of two different means: money earned from outside sources and money earned directly from listeners.

Outside support

The primary form of outside financial support is through sponsorships and ads. Whether you’re on a CPM (cost per mille, or one thousand), CPA (cost per acquisition), or flat rate agreement, these deals are based on the overall audience reached by a sponsor’s product - the ad itself.

From listeners

Support from your audience takes a few forms: directly through donations or one-time or ongoing payments, or by purchasing something related to your podcast, including merchandise, books and other media, or ticketed events. Depending your approach to how you ask your listeners for contributions, there can be an expectation that they’ll receive something else in addition to your podcast in return, whether it be swag or exclusive content.